DETROIT: THE MOVIE THAT LEFT ME IN SHAMBLES

Last night I have the pleasure of watching a screening of the movie, Detroit. Although at first I headed off to the movie theater to watch a screening of Dark Towers, my plans quickly changed when my sister and I learned that the screening was completely full. At first, we were upset because we came all this way to see the movie, but the worker soon informed us that a screening of Detroit had just started and if we wanted we could see that one instead. This was a blessing in disguise because I know I enjoyed Detroit more than I would’ve ever enjoyed Dark Towers.

The movie Detroit is based on the Algiers Motel incident during Detroit’s 1967 12th Street Riot. I felt like I was experiencing everything that happened in the movie, first hand. I have never cried so much, shook with fear so much, or felt so worried during any other movie I have watched. It is so dishearting that people actually experienced everything portrayed in the movie and even today things like this go on. I really encourage people to go watch this movie, it perfectly depicts what people mean when they say there are bad police in the world, but it doesn’t mean that all police are bad. It shows how police have an advantage in the justice system and can get away with so much. Although times are different now, police officers still have a clear advantage in the justice system with the court of law. In the movie we saw how different forms of authority didn’t want to interfere with the Detroit Police in the Algiers Motel incident because they knew, the DPD was racist and were unjustifiably killing people. Most could have helped the situation but they didn’t want to get tied up in the mess that would unfold after the events that took place that night.

It is so insane that the police planted a weapon on someone after they shot and killed them when they posed no threat, and then “accidentally” killed someone else because of misinterpreted instruction, and finally killed a boy because he would not keep quiet after the events he saw that it. The police terrorized innocent people and then killed multiple of them. I’m trying not to give away so much, but I am getting angrier as I am writing this. Of course, these events actually happened but unless you did research on the Algier Motel Incident, you probably would not know the details. Film wise, I really enjoyed the acting and the depiction of the scenes, however, I did not enjoy the ending; I found it to be rather blunt. The entire film changed after the trial. The film shifted to follow The Dramatics member specifically Algee Smith (the main singer who ended up leaving the group) and although I get that they followed the group at the beginning and wanted to end it that way. I feel that is it ended right after everything went down at the trial and then went into the facts about what actually happened and where they are now, it would’ve been a better ending (cinematically) for me. The camera work again was not the best, I found it to be heavy on the eyes at times, but it did not take away that much from the film.

All in all, it was a great film and left me with a heavy heart. I really do hope people realize that this is not just a movie and that these events actually happened. You can’t just leave saying “that was a great movie”. You have to retain the events you saw and share with people that may have some ignorance and say things like “I don’t even get why Black Lives Matter is a thing” or say things like “And when you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon — you just see them thrown in, rough — I said, ‘Please don’t be too nice, Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? Like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody — don’t hit their head. I said, ‘You can take the hand away, okay?” – Donald Trump. The president said this. It baffles me because he is seemingly endorsing police brutality when we very well know that Black and Brown people have had a history of mistreatment in the justice system. He claims that laws have been made to protect the ‘criminal’ when they should be made to protect the officer. THIS MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE TO ME BECAUSE POLICE OFFICERS ARE FOR PROTECTING THE PEOPLE. (I’m going to stop talking about this before I get too heated)

Detroit is a must see for everyone. I give it 4.5 stars in all because it has a great message, depiction of history, and acting, but could have better camera work and ending.